Dan Gilbert Announces $500M To Revitalize Detroit Neighborhoods

[M II A II R II K]

Gilbert Announces $500M To Revitalize Detroit Neighborhoods


Mar 25th, 2021

By Charles E. Ramirez & James David Dickson

Read More: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...ds/6994554002/

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The Quicken Loans Inc. founder and Cleveland Cavaliers owner made the announcement during an interview that aired Thursday on "CBS This Morning," and expanded on it at a 10 a.m. press conference at One Campus Martius. "I'd like to see the people of Detroit benefit," Gilbert said. "You look at every level in downtown right now and we have to carry that through to the neighborhoods and have the whole city have that energy."

- The business titan told CBS the effort will start with $15 million for overdue property taxes. It will cover about 20,000 homes, Jay Farner, CEO of Rocket Mortgage, said. Farner said the gift will “eliminate the burden of property tax debt.” He hailed Quicken for playing a “small role” in the city’s rebirth since moving its headquarters downtown 11 years ago, but said that “systematic and generational” issues the city faces will have no “quick fixes.” --- The Detroit Tax Relief Fund will work through two existing efforts: Detroit's homeowner's property tax assistance program and Pay As You Stay (PAYS), under the Wayne County Treasurer's Office. --- Low-income people who owe current-year taxes will be enrolled in Detroit's program. People enrolled in the Detroit program, who have back debt are enrolled in PAYS too, which wipes out that debt. Wayne Metro Community Action Agency will administer the Detroit Tax Relief Fund. It also administers Wayne County's property tax foreclosure relief program. In addition to the funds, counseling is available to help keep a one-time issue from becoming a longtime problem, the Gilbert Foundation said. Wayne Metro will run that too.

- Mayor Mike Duggan said the gift made Thursday "an extraordinary day for Detroit, a major step forward on a strategy to start to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty in this city." Over the last decade, Gilbert chaired the Detroit Blight Task Force. That work brought him in close, and regular, contact with Duggan, and that relationship continues. "Dan became totally focused on stabilizing the neighborhoods," Duggan said. "He said to me, 'If we don't stop the people from leaving the houses, all we're going to be doing is being behind.'" --- Duggan continued: "I​​​​​t was Dan and his team that paid for neighborhood groups to knock on every single door in this city that had a family in danger of being foreclosed on, telling them all of the programs available, signing them up for the poverty exemption, and we cut the foreclosures of owner-occupied houses by 95%." --- "We have very few foreclosures now," Duggan said. "The stress is that you have people with bills from four, five, six years ago hanging over their heads, making them insecure in their life, every day, and what the Gilberts have done today is give them a road to financial security," Duggan said.

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[The North One]

This is a pretty big deal. He's eliminating all tax foreclosures in the city and the timing couldn't be better. People will now get a fresh start and have a good chance at building wealth. It's also the main cause of population loss in city limits, setting up the city for growth in the near future.